for 10 times more protection with each wash. this season, a good offense is the best defense. lysol. mission for health. . the syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons, including seron nerve gas against its own people. will this guy give that order? new details ahead. president obama remains firm that the wealthy must pay more, and a few republicans are joining him. pippa visits sister te, the $8 million man, and nasa's high res look at you on our planet earth. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for thursday, december 6th, 2012. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. well, this week president obama put syrian leader bashar al

assad on notice specifically about the use of chemical weapons, and now we know why. pentagon sources tell nbc news syria is preparing chemical weapons for their possible use against the syrian people in the form of aerial bombs. >> reporter: as the fighting grows more intense and syrian rebels close in on damascus, the syrian regime has turned increasingly desperate. u.s. officials tell nbc news the syrian military has now loaded the precursor chemicals for seron nerve gas into aerial bombs that could be dropped from dozens of syrian fighter bombers. this week u.s. intelligence detected a flurry of activity at chemical weapons site, like this one near homs. while u.s. officials confirmed the precursor chemicals are loaded and they must be mixed together to get the sarin gas.

president obama and hillary clinton issued strong warning to syria's president bashar al assad. >> it's the point of no return. they're going to lose any sort of backing they had in terms of the chinese and russians. it's a suicide mission. >> reporter: the killing force of sarin nerve gas is devastating. 5,000 kerds were killed in 1988. well, back here at home, fiscal cliff negotiations in washington are still up in the air. most lawmakers have gone home for a long weekend. this, as treasury secretary timothy geithner says the obama administration is willing to go over the fiscal cliff. nbc's tracie potts joins us live from washington with app update on all of this. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: lynn, not quite empty. a lot of lawmakers on a long

weekend break. take a look at some of the frustrated constituents they'll face. a protest in baltimore over social security, not the check but the jobs. the people who work in the offices who fear there could be super long lines for taxpayers if, in fact, their jobs are cut in all of this. so where do we stand today? there's a hearing today on capitol hill. the joint economic committee hearing on what can be done for the fiscal cliff. treasury secretary timothy geithner says the administration is willing to go over the cliff, let taxes go up, let these taxes happen if republicans press the idea of no tax increases for the wealthy. the latest we've learned, president obama and house speaker john boehner have spoken by phone. no word on what they discussed or whether there are any meetings planned, but just the fact that they're talking seems to be progress these days here on capitol hill. >> we'll take that.

tracie potts for us in washington. tracie, thanks. egypt state television is reporting at least five people were killed in overnight flashes between supporters and opponents of egyptian president mohammed morsi. the street battles were the most violent since egypt's latest crisis erupted two weeks ago where morsi assumed near absolute power. the opposition is vowing more protests later today. this morning, two australian radio hosts are apologizing for a prank call that's getting worldwide attention. it was made to the hospital where kate is being treated for acute morning sick sentencesness. anna bell roberts is with us. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. that's right. the latest on kate's condition is that she will remain in hospital. we're not quite sure for how much longer, but she is said to be doing well and getting a lot of rest, which doctors say is what she really needs.

as you say, she's had a number of visitors, her brother james and sister pippa were both seen at the hospital last night visiting her. plenty of attention on them as they stepped out of the hospital. but the spotlight today is focused on the other side of the world and that has caused it because of these two australian d.j.s who found themselves in the headlines thanks to this prank call. they posed as the queen and prince charles. the receptionist said put them through and put them on the ward where kate is saying. she allegedly gave them an update on kate's condition. have a listen. >> kate, my darling. >> good morning, ma'am. this is vanessa speaking. >> hello, i'm just after my granddaughter kate to see how she's doing. >> some would call that radio gold. the d.j.s themselves have said they were amazed they got through.

>> no kidding. it went on to describe some of her condition in detail. it is unbelievable that they had that much access. anna bell, thanks so much. here's nks meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. i can see you doing something like that. >> it's socially acceptable for the radio d.j.s to do that. >> let's not put that idea out there. >> we'd be in the unl employment line. good morning, everyone. here's what we're looking at this morning. the big weather story is the lack of winter. this snow cover across the country tells the story. right now in the lower 48 only 7% of the country is covered by snow. so record low for this day. of course, these records only go back a couple decades, but you notice where the snow is showed in blue in the rockies. this is a snow line. it's pretty much right along the border of canada. it's hard to find snow in the great lakes and northern new england which is very rare for this time of year. temperatures are much colder.

20 degrees colder on the east coast. we've warmed it up in the midwest. the wind chills will get you something from boston northward where the wind chills are in the teens. in the plains we've warmed it up. as far as bad weather, light rain out there. some snow showers heading through areas of northern wisconsin and northern minnesota. overall, it's an inactive day today. after the cold start new england will warm up to the 40s. that's a look at the national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. we will see a little bit of a chance of rain in the pacific north west. salt lake city, utah, a chance of showers. 49. boston again, very cold afternoon. people in the northeast, you know, we kind of get spoiled with the warm temps. this morning is reality. >> yeah, exactly. we knew it was coming. it's december. we'll take it. bill, thanks so much. there's some good news in the fight against cancer and

that cup of starbucks may be a little more difficult to find. plus, john mcafee is finally in custody. what did he know about the death of his neighbor. why was he fleeing police for three weeks. this is "early today" on nbc.

welcome back. stories making news this morning. "the new york times" reports that the u.s. secretly gave its blessing to armed shipments to rebel groups in libya during the fight against moammar gadhafi, but officials became alarmed that some of the weapons sent from qatar may have been turned over to islamic militants. a new congressional report shows waistful spending of tax money that was intended for counter terrorism purposes. some of the most head shaking examples include the homeland security security department paid for a hog catcher? texas, a fish tank in a small texas town, and an underwater robot in a midwest city with no major rivers or lakes nearby. john mcafee, the eccentric

software tycoon, was arrested in guatemala. he has been a fugitive from police in belize after the murder of his neighbor. in philippines the death toll has increased to 350 and almost 400 people are missing so that number will go even higher. and in new york city, a homeless man is facing charges of second degree murder in the death of a man who was pushed in front of an oncoming subway train. naeem davis is being held without bail and is due back in court on tuesday. well, some optimistic news in the fight against breast cancer, a new study found that women who took the common estrogen blocking drug tamoxifen for ten years cut their chance of developing breast cancer in half. well, what goes up must come down. that is not what apple investors want to hear. the iphone maker's stock continued to fall in extended hours trading after plunging more than 6% in the regular session for its worst single day

decline since 2008. apple is down more than 20% since the september peak. meanwhile, citigroup shot up on news of the company's cost-cutting measures that will slash 11,000 jobs. starbucks is expanding with plans to open 3,000 new caves in the u.s., mexico and canada over the next five years. a new government commissioned report finds that exporting the nation's new found surplus of natural gas would do the nation good citing the overall economic boost that would outweigh higher domestic prices. economics team at virginia's lynchberg college crunched the numbers and found that if the nation goes over the fiscal cliff californians will beat out new yorkers for the potential highest tax rate at 52%. forbes is out with its 2012 most powerful people lest. president obama held onto the top spot for the second straight year. the pope climbed two notches from last year and landed in fifth place.

facebook ceo mark zuckerberg tumbled from the top ten all the way to number 25. former president bill clinton held on to last year's ranking at number 50. tonight on rock center watch brian williams sit down with apple ceo, tim cook, number 35 on the forbes list by the way. finally, this is no joke. though it began as one on facebook, pizza hut in canada has sent more than 100 bottles of pizza scented perfume to facebook fans. the fragrance boasts top notes of freshly baked hand tossed dough. pepper reason ri? >> new york mayor cory booker lives on food stamps. the nfl steps up with $1 million for jovan belcher's daughter. high res images from space. it allows images of city lights, gas flares, aur rar ras, to be seen by the naked eye.

stories making news across america on this thursday. in washington state, a 35 year relationship was officially legitimized. as the clock struck 12:00 out west, they became the first same sex couple to receive a marriage license in the evergreen state, a fitting honor for the couple who was featured in the ad

campaign to legalize same-sex marriage. newark, new jersey, mayor co cory booker is gearing up for a food stamp diet. he will be living on $30 worth of food stamps for the week. the mayor took on the challenge after getting into a debate with one of his twitter followers. north of the border a few military vets suited up for team u.s.a. despite their inspiring stories of lost limbs and sacrifice, team canada beat the americans 2-1. however, team u.s.a. earned enough wins for a spot in the semifinals. sports, tipoff in the nba, bobcats and nicks, with three seconds left new york's j.r. smith took the inbounds pass and hit a following jumper for the left side for a dramatic buzzer beater, 100-90 win over charlotte. in new orleans the lakers kobe bryant scored 29 points to become only the fifth player to score over 30,000 points. he is the youngest player to

beat that milestone. nfl wide receiver andre johnson, number 80 of the houston texans took a dozen at-risk children on an 80 second shopping spree at toys"r"us. can you imagine how fun that would be? the final bill of almost $20,000 was paid by johnson's charitable foundation. that's great. the infant daughter of jovan belcher of the kansas city chiefs will collect at least $1 million from the nfl's surviving child fund. belcher killed the baby's mother, kasandra perkins, and then his self on saturday. for now, disgraced cyclist lance armstrong is holding on to his olympic bronze medal from the 2000 games in sydney. they postponed a decision to strip him of the medal but is expected to do so. before a tennis match in london on sunday, they turned out to play mini tennis on ice near the national history museum to promote the event. that looks too easy. just ahead, this year's

grammy nominees and the head cbs honcho weighs in on the angus t. jones drama. plus, south korean singing sensation psy may mock it in his video gangnam style but we'll tell you why he's living the good life. you're watching "early today."

. welcome back to "early today." on the eastern seaboard, much colder day than this time yesterday. you felt that cold air rushing

in during the day yesterday. now as far as this afternoon goes, it's dry but it will still be chilly with highs in the low 40s. it will be sunny in most cases everywhere from the carolinas up to new england. no problems today. as we go into friday, some of that colder air is going to come down and meet the warm air from the south. we'll get an area of light rain forming in the ohio valley. it looks like the upcoming weekend will be a little more floomy with lots of clouds and on and off periods of clouds. it's not like a big cold plunge is coming but a little unsettled through the next couple of days. all right, bill, thanks so much. apparently one song is all it takes to be a millionaire. korean rapper psy has raked in $8 million bucks. the world will have to wait to see if he becomes more than a one hit wonder. the nominees for the 65th grammy awards. the winners include kanye west,

jay-z, mumford and sons along with the black peas. >> is it just me? am i out of the loop. i didn't know half the people? >> you didn't know that? that's a great album. jazz pianist dave brubeck has died at the age of 91. cbs president les moonves weighed in on the angus t. jones filth comments. he said, compared to charlie sheen, this is a piece of cake. >> i'm sure. >> moonves added, by the way, jones is still collecting that $300,000 a week paycheck. >> for now. >> that's true. jimmy fallon and mariah carey decided to get everyone in the christmas spirit. ♪ all i want for christmas is you ♪ >> did you see the little piano. >> there was a lot of stuff going on in there. >> yeah, all kids instruments. and it ended up sounding really good if you listen to the entire

thing. maybe it was just mariah carey's voice. it's incredibly insane. >> do you think she carried it? >> she definitely carried it. this comes to us from wbbh nbc 2 in nearby cape coral a former firefighter's holiday wish came true. 88-year-old tom egan loved being a new york city firefighter. the 20-year vet relived a lot of those memories when a local fire crew agreed to take him for a ride in their truck. dementia has given tom some rough days since retiring. his son believes this is going to be logged as one of his best days. i bet it will be. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. we have changed the air mass. it is a little colder this morning. it is 31 in mount airy. 35 in rock hall. mostly sunny skies. the wind will be lighter than yesterday. high temperature in the mid to upper 40's. we will check the seven-day forecast coming up in just a few minutes. >> 4:56.

police officers make a milestone arrest. >> a burglary suspect will likely face more charges after a gun goes off and a hospital. >> a vote of confidence for the city's speed cameras. >> we are taking a look at the >> we are taking a look at the area

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >>." you will feel the chill this morning. >> the sky is clear. let's look at what is happening at the airport. 30 at bwi